Asia Pacific airport volumes affected by European economy and Asia export slowdown
17 / 07 / 2015
Air cargo volumes at airports based in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions edged up in May but were impacted be export and economic slowdowns.
The latest figures from Airports Council International Asia Pacific show that throughput at Asia Pacific airports increased by 1.6% in May compared with last year. Volumes at Middle Eastern airports were up 4.4% on May 2014.
Among the major cargo airports in the region, New Delhi led Asia Pacific with the highest growth rate of 16% and Doha led the Middle East at 14.7% for the month.
ACI Asia Pacific said growth had been affected by “weak economic growth in Europe and slowdown across Asian export markets”.
“The month of May showed diverging results for passenger and freight traffic in both Asia Pacific and the Middle East,” the organisation added.
“While passenger traffic remained resilient, the slowdown in trade activities and air freight traffic may put downward pressures on business travels in the coming months.”
Of the three busiest cargo airports in the region, Hong Kong saw volumes decline by 0.3% in May compared with a year earlier, Shanghai Pudong recorded a 5.6% increase and Dubai, both DXB and DWC together, recorded a 4.9% increase.